Shawn Langdon and the Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry Funny Car advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in Phoenix at the Arizona Nationals.
The Global Electronic Technology team had a very nice Saturday qualifying effort with each of their runs ranked in the top five of the session. The final pass, a 3.927 second run at 329.42 mph, reset Langdon’s career-bests in both elapsed time and mph. That run placed Langdon in the 10th position on the qualifying sheet and a draw of former champion Cruz Pedregon in the first round.
Langdon and Pedregon would leave side-by-side, but the Global Electronic Technology Camry was ahead shortly after. Pedregon suffered woes, but Langdon’s ride was clean to the stripe. That was Langdon’s first Funny Car round win.
The ride would not end there though. Langdon advanced to the quarterfinals to face Ron Capps. This time, Langdon got the better of the 2016 Funny Car champion. Langdon moved first and recorded the best elapsed time of the quarterfinals to earn the round win. Langdon’s reaction time was the best of the session among the Funny Car class.
Langdon’s solid sophomore Funny Car effort would end in the semifinals. The Global Electronic Technology Camry made another solid run, a 3.958, and Langdon moved first, but opponent Tommy Johnson Jr. was able to move around Langdon and advance to the finals.
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 10 (3.927 sec., 329.42 mph)
E1: Langdon defeated Pedregon – 3.965 sec., 328.22 mph to 5.112 sec., 152.95 mph
E2: Langdon defeated Capps – 3.927 sec., 328.14 mph to 4.651 sec., 182.30 mph
E3: Langdon defeated by Johnson Jr. – 3.958 sec., 325.77 mph to 3.916 sec., 328.46 mph
Quotable: “Good thing is we were the only car to make three runs down the track. We tried to play it smart and we ended up getting lane choice in the semis. We moved the Global Electronic Technology Camry to the right lane. We had run in the left lane all day and had the tuneup for that, but we thought the right lane was better and it was. It was just even better than we expected. We lost in the semis. Not a bad weekend. We are making gains; I am growing as a driver. We are learning as a group. It was a good weekend. We can’t complain about it much, just lost a good race.”
Point Standings: Eighth; leads John Force by nine points for ninth; trails Jonnie Lindberg by three points for sixth.
Kalitta Motorsports PR/Photo Gary Nastase Photography
